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Of the Manner in Which the Persecutors Died

Lactantius

Chapter 5

About this work

Author: Lactantius

Chap. V.

And presently Valerian also, in a mood alike

‹ Chapter 4 Chapter 6 ›

frantic

,

lifted

up

his

impious

hands

to

assault

God

,

and

,

although

his

time

was

short

,

shed

much

righteous

blood

.

But

God

punished

him

in

a

new

and

extraordinary

manner

,

that

it

might

be

a

lesson

to

future

ages

that

the

adversaries

of

Heaven

always

receive

the

just

recompense

of

their

iniquities

.

He

,

having

been

made

prisoner

by

the

Persians

,

lost

not

only

that

power

which

he

had

exercised

without

moderation

,

but

also

the

liberty

of

which

be

had

deprived

others

;

and

he

wasted

the

remainder

of

his

days

in

the

vilest

condition

of

slavery

:

for

Sapores

,

the

king

of

the

Persians

,

who

had

made

him

prisoner

,

whenever

he

chose

to

get

into

his

carriage

or

to

mount

on

horseback

,

commanded

the

Roman

to

stoop

and

present

his

back

;

then

,

setting

his

foot

on

the

shoulders

of

Valerian

,

he

said

,

with

a

smile

of

reproach

,

“

This

is

true

,

and

not

what

the

Romans

delineate

on

board

or

plaster

.

”

Valerian

lived

for

a

considerable

time

under

the

well

-

merited

insults

of

his

conqueror

;

so

that

the

Roman

name

remained

long

the

scoff

and

derision

of

the

barbarians

:

and

this

also

was

added

to

the

severity

of

his

punishment

,

that

although

he

had

an

emperor

for

his

son

,

he

found

no

one

to

revenge

his

captivity

and

most

abject

and

servile

state

;

neither

indeed

was

he

ever

demanded

back

.

Afterward

,

when

he

had

finished

this

shameful

life

under

so

great

dishonour

,

he

was

flayed

,

and

his

skin

,

stripped

from

the

flesh

,

was

dyed

with

vermilion

,

and

placed

in

the

temple

of

the

gods

of

the

barbarians

,

that

the

remembrance

of

a

triumph

so

signal

might

be

perpetuated

,

and

that

this

spectacle

might

always

be

exhibited

to

our

ambassadors

,

as

an

admonition

to

the

Romans

,

that

,

beholding

the

spoils

of

their

captived

emperor

in

a

Persian

temple

,

they

should

not

place

too

great

confidence

in

their

own

strength

.

Now since God so punished the sacrilegious, is it not strange that any one should afterward have dared to do, or even to devise, aught against the majesty of the one God, who governs and supports all things?